First PPP – 2025

Big week this week. I started it out with some horseback riding – and some poop shoveling!

It was Pole Pedal Paddle weekend. This year Dad and I raced together in the Family Pair category. Dad started things off with the alpine ski.

He passed me the timing chip, and I was off on the Nordic ski. I hammered right from the start and just started dropping people.

Here I am coming up to the finish. Notice all the adults close behind me.

Now notice that, not but 20 yards later, I have completely dropped them. I passed the chip to Dad, and he took off on his bike, racing toward town.

Once Dad got to Bend and tagged me, I was off on the run. I ran fast. Really fast (8 min and 24 sec miles).

When I finished the run, I tagged Dad, and he was off on paddle leg. Would someone please tell this fool that paddle boards are not fast.

After the paddle, all that was left was a sprint to the finish.

We won our category. By a lot. And, we got mugs! Our team name was “The Manimal and his Dad”. Good name.

For being the fastest Family Pair, we also won a prize bag filled with hundreds of dollars of gift cards and goodies. I was most excited about the gift certificates to Mountain Burger.

The Mother was most excited about the goodie bag.

That evening I set up a celebratory PPP bar:

Sunday, we went mtn. biking. It was cold.

After biking, we went to my school’s fundraiser at a new park in town.

The best part was the super cool bouldering area in the park – although the soft serve sweetened with manuka honey was pretty darn good.

Dad and I bought The Mother a new cookbook for Mother’s Day. Yup. You guessed it – that means new meals. Maybe ones we might not like. This week didn’t look great but was yummy – mostly. Za’atar Tofu Bowls (not photogenic). ..roast carrots, turnips, and broccoli, za’atar seasoned tofu, white beans, with radishes and shredded beet garnish.